Title :
A circuit level hot-carrier evaluation system
Author :
Tsui, Paul G Y ; Lee, Peter M. ; Baker, Frank K. ; Hayden, James D. ; Howington, Lee ; Tiwald, Tom ; Mowry, Brian
Author_Institution :
Motorola Inc., Austin, TX, USA
fDate :
3/1/1991 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
A fully integrated system that facilitates the evaluation and prediction of hot-carrier effects at the circuit level is described. The system is capable of executing constant voltage and constant current ratio stress conditions at the transistor level, performing extensive data analysis and extraction, and simulating circuit reliability at a user-defined future time. Through these enhancements, more precise model parameter values can be attained, which in turn improves the overall accuracy of the circuit aging simulation. Quantitative verification of the simulation results against experimental data was accomplished using 0.5-μm CMOS ring oscillators. The reliability of the ring oscillators as a function of stress time, power supply voltage, capacitive loading, and passivation technology is analyzed. In all these cases, less than 2% absolute error was observed between the experimental and simulation results when using this automated hot-carrier evaluation system
Keywords :
automatic test equipment; circuit reliability; digital simulation; electronic engineering computing; hot carriers; integrated circuit testing; 0.5 micron; ATE system; automated hot-carrier evaluation system; capacitive loading; circuit aging simulation; circuit level; circuit reliability; constant current ratio stress conditions; constant voltage ratio stress conditions; data analysis; data extraction; integrated system; model parameter values; passivation technology; power supply voltage; transistor level; Analytical models; Circuit simulation; Data analysis; Data mining; Hot carrier effects; Hot carriers; Integrated circuit reliability; Ring oscillators; Stress; Voltage;
Journal_Title :
Solid-State Circuits, IEEE Journal of
